Avocatier
Avocado
Persea americana
Next to the mango, the avocado is the most abundant of Haitian fruits. It is one of the three principal coffee shade trees, so that in coffee districts remote from urban centers it is absurdly cheap during the bearing season, from June through November. At Bodarie, in September 1953, avocados sold for about ten cents a bushel.
The avocado tree is propagated by planting the seed of a selected large fruit. Almost all of the avocados are of the large West Indian variety; recently the Fuerte was introduced into the high altitude districts, but anthracnose kills the flowers, and it takes 16 years to begin bearing. In contrast, the domestic variety begins to fruit four years after planting on the lowlands. The trees attain large dimensions in favorable locations, 40 cm. diameter at breast height, 9 m high and 12 m span. In color, size and form the fruits range from dark green to maroon, from 8 cm to 20 cm in length and from ellipsoidal to pear shaped.
Since the fruits are often allowed to fall from the tree or are gathered by throwing stones at them, they are usually too ripe and too bruised to be stored or transported long distances. To obtain oil for anointing the body and the hair, the fruit is boiled and the oil is skimmed. It soon becomes rancid. The fruits are esteemed for fattening swine; often, the trees are deliberately planted to provide hog food. Humans eat the avocados raw and make them into a soup for infants.
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